~ Live and let live!

Monthly Archives: July 2014

Political stunts for ‘public cause’ more often than not fail to benefit the society at large. Success ratio of welfare programmes is very poor, especially in India. They get extension after extension. Not meeting deadlines has been the norm. Political considerations play bigger part in deciding components of welfare schemes. Biggest example is the UPA-II’s Food Security Act, which, however, could not rescue the Congress from meeting its doomsday. In fact, the Act boomeranged as the now-smarter Indian voters questioned the haste. Why was the UPA-II govt hell bent on getting the Bill through with national elections round the corner? The Bill became a law on September 12 last year, but electorates understood the motive behind, much to the benefit of the Narendra Modi-led BJP.

Pro-environment schemes, which don’t come into conflict with the interest of who’s who, are nowadays a big tool for politicians to win public hearts. East Khasi Hills district administration made a huge attempt of creating world record by planting over seven lakh saplings on a single day. They did it accordingly, but the Guinness Book authorities refused to consider it ‘due to short notice’. Nearly half a dozen elected political leaders including chief minister Mukul Sangma and home minister Roshan Warjri planted trees on the occasion. This is a good gesture by politicians towards an environmental cause. But skeptics would ask if there was any real need for all these MLAs and ministers to go there, had there been no political motive. The purpose is just to plant trees, a kid’s job. Forest personnel can do it and have been doing for years. Was there any need to burn hundreds of litres of petrol for carrying politicians and their very obedient bureaucrats to the over 50 locations besides spending thousands, if not lakhs, in buying food packets?

Notwithstanding the obvious interest of politicians to show their face on such occasions apart, such show-offs help make people aware of the so-called mission. They attract a lot of spectators and eyeballs. Public gets encouraged to be part of such mission. These programmes are worth if they are able to convert even a single mind, especially of the youth and children. Politicians, bureaucrats and contractors benefit their own way while the society benefits in terms of getting awareness. If today’s children understand value of environment, tree plantation programmes might be a redundant thing in future.

Kingdoms are no more, but politicians nowadays fight more for power than the kings did. Elected representatives in some countries spend most of their tenures in activities in order to saving their chair. Sometimes they even go bloody, engaging terrorist groups or henchmen to eliminate enemies. In recent times, Italy and France in Europe and Pakistan, Iraq and Thailand in Asia are some of the countries that have witnessed many topsy-turvy situations in the fight for political space. India has not faced any such drastic scenes at national level of late, but they are plenty in the states. Congress, which suffered a historic defeat in the hands of saffron Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, is the worst hit by struggle for power within the party.

North-east, which was the saving grace for Congress in the elections, is a big headache for the party besides Maharashtra. Party leaders in Assam and Meghalaya are shamelessly engaged in battle for “equal distribution of power”. Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi and his followers have appeared to have won a long battle with the rival group. It was not before the 78 party legislators making dozens of trips to-and-fro Delhi. In recent months, some of them were reported to be “camping” in Delhi for more days than they sat in their chambers in the state capital. They, however, don’t have any dearth of excuses of official “meetings” and “conferences” to prolong their stay in Delhi.

Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma has also been fighting a long battle within the party to save his hot power seat. The fight has become more intense after his bête noire Purno Sangma, the former Lok Sabha Speaker, won the Tura seat for the ninth time. The senior Sangma, having support of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), this time has more weapons in his closet to cause trouble for the chief minister. The battle within the Congress for the chair of chief minister started months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, and yet to die down. Twenty-nine elected MLAs of the party spent hundreds of hours, if not thousands, discussing and negotiating on the subject. Imagine what would be the output of an IAS officer if he has to go on thinking about securing his position. But, the people take it for granted when elected representatives openly fight for power. Such trends in democracy like India’s gives rise to thought if the public has a better chance of seeing lesser fights for power in kingdoms or dictatorship.

There is always more than what meets the eye. The best current example is the death of nearly 300 people in a plane crash on Ukraine-Russian border. The obvious finger of doubt falls on the pro-Russian rebels. They, on the other hand, politely and ceremonially handed over the flight data recorders to airlines authorities and investigators. They behaved like good guys, after facing global criticism accusing them of shooting down the Malayasian plane. Time will only tell, if they were really the good guys in this case. But it is also doubtful that Putin will endorse such a dastardly attack, which, he knows, would do nothing but boomerang on Russia. Since the mishap, the whole world has been after Russia, as someone might have wanted and made scapegoat the 300 lives. This is an old order of the world. People’s acts and motives are world apart.

Currently, Meghalaya is also witnessing activities which seem to be remote controlled from two power centres – Sangma (Mukul) and Sangma (Purno). Both the families influence a lot of activities, especially centred around Garo Hills. The latest being the shocker in Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, which hurriedly wanted to pass a Bill that certifies Garo tribal credentials of a person whose either parent is a non-Garo. The Bill, apparently, is for general cause. But, going by the trouble chief minister Mukul Sangma is facing from litigations over his ‘doubtful’ Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, there is enough room for speculation that the Bill’s primary objective is to rescue him only. The hundreds of arguments to establish that he was adopted by a tribal family (his mother was a non-tribal Muslim) under Garo customary laws would have weak a standing in the court of law. The best way out (for him) is to make it a general provision to obtain tribal status for those having one non-tribal parent. It is known that there will be thousands of ‘beneficiaries’ of the law.

On the other hand, some activities can be understood as being influenced by Purno Sangma, the former Lok Sabha Speaker and current Tura MLA. Tennydard M Marak has been waging a lone battle against the chief minister Mukul Sangma’s ST status for years together. This least known man has even hired service of country’s renowned advocates such as FR Nariman, who is now a judge in the Supreme Court. Saleng Sangma, a former minister in previous Mukul Sangma-led government, is also spending much of his energy against the chief minister, giving plenty of reasons for one to speculate his allegiance to Purno Sangma. Ultimately, the so-called public voices serve some hidden private purpose. The people should start learning how to read between the lines.

The ghost of inner line permit (ILP) is going to trouble Meghalaya once again. The new organisation Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) formed mostly by former Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) members has brought signals of turbulence in the state in the coming days. They say the KSU has gone soft on the issue of protecting the rights and interest of indigenous tribals of Khasi-Jaintia region. The KSU, on the other hand, maintains that it had not compromised in its ‘job’ but yet to make its stand clear on the formation of HYC. Apparently, HYC is a new force not going to align with the KSU and its associate groups to pursue its nationalistic agenda. But, the new group where former KSU leaders joined from across the region would not be affective unless it joined hands with others. Even the KSU had to align with 12 other groups of indigenous people to launch the violence-marred agitation last year to demand ILP. They were hell bent on the demand, popularizing slogans such as ‘No ILP, No Rest’, only to admit later that they have understood the technical difficulty in implementing the ILP in the whole state. However, the HYC is not convinced by the 13 groups’ argument that the ‘comprehensive mechanism’ proposed by them would be a better system to control influx into the state.

This is not the first time the state has seen birth of new student or youth group. While the so-far-most-influential KSU claims to represent interests of indigenous tribals of Khasi-Jaintia region, the Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) is for all the three indigenous tribes although it is active mostly in the Khasi Hills. Besides, there are others such as Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF) and Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM), all active in Khasi-Jaintia Hills with the same agenda. In Jaintia Hills, there is Jaintia Students Union (JSU) and Jaintia Youth Federation (JYF) among others. The Garo Students’ Union (GSU) is a powerful voice in Garo Hills. All these organisations have influence in different regions apart from the KSU and FKJGP, which have strong presence in the capital Shillong. There are many politicians who have roots in the two organisations. United Democratic Party (UDP) leader Paul Lyngdoh (former KSU chief) and Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) leader Ardent Basaiawmoit (former FKJGP chief) are a few among them.

It remains to be seen whether the HYC will end up representing voice of a particular pocket or it will emerge as a strong force like KSU and FKJGP. But, as of now, they are not likely to be able to gain much ground without seeking association from other NGOs, even from the KSU. Whatever be the case, birth of a new group to pursue the demand for ILP and other nationalistic agenda is surely going bring serious threat to the relative peaceful atmosphere in the state. The government must take note of it.

Public memory is very short. Everyone knows it. Politicians take advantage of it. Criminals take advantage of it. This character of humans is a blessing for all wrongdoers. Had public memory been sharp, we won’t have seen corrupt politicians getting elected again and again. Indian voters would have found reasons to throw back freebies and cash on the face of politicians, who come begging for votes the previous night of voting day. Sometimes public memory is made even shorter by fresh events. The new event wipes out the memory of the past event, benefiting a section in the society while hitting others. Governments are sometimes alleged to have created new sensational scenes to avoid public criticism for a particular embarrassing incident. Coincidental happenings too save the authorities or public figures the embarrassments.

The case in this point is the Tura episode surrounding so-called illegal confinement and following assault on 12 girls allegedly involved in flesh trade. There are unanswered questions even after two enquiry reports were made public. Presumably, both the inquiries gave clean chit to authorities while putting blame on a particular policeman, who ‘confessed’ that no higher-up is involved in the case. When media reported about women activists busting a ‘prostitution’ racket on May 1, nobody had in the wildest dream thought that the vigilantes would land up in Tura jail a week later. The events unfolded so fast that at least three separate probes have been launched by different government agencies within a span of four days. The urgency shown by government itself meant there was something amiss in the whole episode, not to speak about the two following deaths – Balsan Marak arrested for assaulting the girls died in judicial custody while a auto driver, brother of a policeman who allegedly beat up Balsan, was brutally killed a few days later. There is definitely more that what meets the eye in the whole episode revolving around prostitution.

As the heat of criticism on police and administration was increasing, a series of kidnappings and following ‘successful’ rescue operations by police, rather rescued the police. The authorities also successfully overthrew allegations of these rescue operations being staged. And, to their help, public memory is short. The chronology of the events related to the girls assault incident has already vanished from public memory. Will truth come out one day or what the inquiry reports have said is the truth is still uncertain.

The issue of ‘influx’ of non-tribals, essentially meaning Indians coming from other states, raises its ugly head time to time in the hilly states of North-east. The problem never took an alarming turn in some states having inner line permit (ILP) as a measure to check entry of outsiders while others like Meghalaya and Manipur saw worst of violence-marred agitations in recent years. Three persons died and scores of property torched and damaged during the four-month-long agitation by pro-ILP groups in Meghalaya in 2013. The agitation started in August-September last year and signs are no better as the ‘season’ approaches.

Some people say trouble times begin in Meghalaya as the first produces of squash and potato hit the market and it dies down with the festival season in December. It happened so many times in the state that non-tribal Indians sometimes rue that they feel like second class citizens. They pay the income tax unlike the tribals, yet face the brunt of agitation in the name of protection of tribal rights over land and resources, their customs, traditions etc. The groups leading such movements get massive support from the public. Common people are susceptible to threats of losing rights over land and resources. It’s usual for them to lose temper over such ‘threats’ and take law into their own hands. Besides, vested interests sometimes give religious tinge to such movements, leading to attacks on places of worship of minority communities in the state.

Although the state government has constituted three committees to take steps on different aspects of the proposed ‘comprehensive mechanism’, it is unlikely to be able to satisfy the pressure groups – the latter have slowly built up pressure on government, indicating days of trouble ahead. They gave up the agitation just before the election early this year on the government’s promise to put in place a ‘comprehensive mechanism’. One of the government committees has been tasked with identifying ‘entry’ and ‘exit’ points to check influx. Presumably, the ‘entry’ points will be manned by officials who will check documents of outsiders and grant them entry permits. On the other hand, permits will be checked at the ‘exit’ points. In a populist tone, apparently to allay apprehension of non-tribals, chief minister Mukul Sangma went on to say that these points will be made ‘attractive’ to allow tourists to spend time there without feeling uncomfortable. This is too optimistic as no tourist is going to love being grilled at check points even if he or she is given the world’s most comfortable chair to sit there. As of now, it seems that the problem (if it is so) of influx is headed for no solution and woes’ of common Indians, who don’t belong to any indigenous tribes, will continue for years to come.

Flash floods are often attributed to human activities that hinder natural course of earthly phenomena. Urban settlements on river banks, an ancient trend, are nowadays seen as a major factor of flash floods in cities. The casualty of over 5,000 in last year’s disaster in Uttarakhand could have be far less, had there been no buildings on the bank of Mandakini river in the Hindu pilgrimage town of Badrinath. The recent flash flood in Guwahati that claimed 12 lives is too attributed to encroachments on two-three main streams flowing across the city.
Though wars were fought over territorial disputes in the past, encroachment, as it is understood today, is quite a new phenomenon. No historian saw any wrong in civilizations coming up along great rivers such as Indus, Nile, Tigris-Euphrates and Yellow River or Huang He. It’s quite natural for human settlements growing along rivers since the latter provided food and transport, besides drinking water and irrigation. But, there was not much pressure of population on those cities like the present ones do. The earlier factors, except for the drinking water, hardly matter for urban settlements coming up along rivers nowadays. Some people just want a roof over them to take shelter. Others earn money by letting the space out, building hotels etc. Living by the rivers in cities, especially in India and other countries having horrible sense of cleanliness, these people, however, enjoy a ‘benefit’ – throw all kinds of solid and liquid waste directly into the once pristine rivers, without having to search for a garbage bin. There is a vast difference between the objectives of cities coming up near rivers now and then.
Urban settlements along rivers are now more of a hurdle than contributors of human civilization. The pressure of human beings on river courses has increased so much that many governments had to curb encroachments by conducting eviction drives, even at the cost of their vote banks. A small temple, built on the bank of Bahini river in Guwahati, was demolished during the post-flood eviction drive. Present prime minister and then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who was seen as a poster boy of Hindutva, tackled encroachment in the state capital with an iron hand in 2008. Over 90 temples were demolished in Ahmedabad during the massive drive, making Modi unpopular among many hard-line Hindu organizations. It’s time people understood rivers are not meant for carrying dirt and filth only. They gave birth to civilizations and deserve respect accordingly.
(Published as editorial in The Meghalaya Guardian on July 11)

Austerity cannot be practised without some pain. The pain, although, can be enjoyed if taken positively. ‘Austerity measures’ are adopted by governments across the world. It has become popular with multi-national companies too. Using solar energy and riding bicycles are some of the popular measures taken to practise austerity. But, most of these measures turn out to be symbolic, to earn cheap publicity, especially in Asian countries. The more the stature of a person, the less the term austerity is applied to him or her. Most of the world leaders, who talk about austerity, move in chartered planes burning fuels that could fly hundreds of others.

Technology often comes in the way of austerity. Take the example of air conditioners (AC). An AC-fitted car was a prized possession till a few years ago in India. Now, almost all variants of all models of any car come with AC. Having AC at home was once a bizarre idea even for the upper middle class. It’s not so now. Even the small grocery shops have AC, for comfort. The use of ACs is so rampant that they even made inroads into hill towns like Shillong where some people still wear sweaters round the year. There are many government offices where officers cannot tolerate the slightest bit of heat during the two-three summer months and use AC even while wearing blazers and sweaters. A small court room in the Meghalaya High Court has as many as three-four ACs running! The amount of heat generated inside the court room due to presence of people could easily be reduced to a great extent if the big windows were kept open. But, the windows are for passing the light only, not air! The reason could be that with air comes the dust, not seen much in Shillong, still known as ‘Scotland of East’. Astonishingly, there is no fan, which consumes much less energy than the AC. The fan, may be, out of fashion!

People take resort to technology to reduce their pain caused by natural phenomena. It’s a different matter that people’s own activities are behind most of these pains – increasing heat, dust, flash floods etc. To practise austerity, we need to tolerate some pain, which is often beneficial for our own health. If your office is a half-an-hour walk from home, you should take the walk and not manage just 5 minutes to be there by your car. Switch off the AC, if the heat is not unbearable. Let some dust bother you, take a bath at home, clean the car interiors after a week. You will save a lot of energy and, above all, win mental satisfaction, the mantra for keeping in good health.
(Published as editorial in The Meghalaya Guardian on July 5)

If one googles for ‘rat-hole’, the first entries that come are all from Meghalaya. This term is exclusively used to mean mining in the state. It’s not a popular term associated with the coal industry, as it is in Meghalaya. Of course, the miners don’t like it. They wanted the tag be removed, long before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) came to picture, to ban the whole trade. The dispute over the term ‘rat hole’ has become more intense with a top government official claiming that such practice is no longer used in the state.

“The mining activity in Jaintia Hills is a small scale venture controlled by individuals who own the land; primitive mining method commonly known as ‘rat-hole’ mining is in practice in Meghalaya.” This was the observation made by the NGT while issuing the order to ban the ‘illegal practice’. The order also said, “We direct … to ensure that ‘rat-hole’ mining/illegal mining is stopped forthwith”. As such, ‘rat hole’ was an accepted term even for the media to describe the prevailing mining system. But the newly-appointed chief secretary, PBO Warjri, caused quite a stir by stating that ‘rat hole’ is a forgone practice to extract coal except for a few places in Sohra (Cherrapunjee) in minimal scale. By saying that ‘rat holes’ make no drastic damage to the environment, he meant that had it been ‘rat holes’ only, the question of NGT imposing the ban on coal mining would not have arisen. Now, it is for the law to decide whether his statement could come into conflict with the NGT.

The miners too have reasons to become unhappy by the remark of the bureaucrat, who took over the top post just three days ago. He minced no words in making it clear that the current mining practice in Jaintia Hills having the biggest reserve in the state is no longer traditional. The miners running from pillar to post to get the NGT ban removed have made all efforts to establish that their trade is a traditional practice of the tribals and hence should not be disturbed. Some of the miners, who are now worth hundreds of crores, are even looking for a possibility to give it a tag of cottage industry. ‘Rat hole’ or not, the haphazard way of coal mining has caused massive environmental damage, making the water of most of the rivers unfit for any use, especially in Jaintia Hills. ‘Development’ at such massive cost is not acceptable. The miners must take the responsibility not to harm the nature to such great extent, if mining is allowed in future.

It was about four years ago. I work in a hilly town called Shillong in the state of Meghalaya in India. Five of us trekked up to the nearby Shillong Peak, a steep climb of nearly 2-3 km. At the Peak, there is one of the four headquarters of Indian Air Force. We made it. It was a common trekking route. Coming down, we decided to explore our way through a different direction. We took a walk of around 2 km along the road inside IAF headquarters. It was allowed for tourists after due verification of identity. There is a place from where the entire town below is clearly visible. By that time we were just out of the IAF gate. Locals told us there is a way straight down. The town was clearly visible but in between there was a thick forest of about 2km aerial distance. The track was also not clear although the locals had no doubt about it. A few objected, but majority prevailed. We lured them with the thrill of taking risk. It was around 4 pm. As we descended, the faint track disappeared after a few hundred metres. But by then we have lost the view of the town. There were pine trees everywhere. The light was poor. Two of us wanted to climb up again. Again it was majority that prevailed. I told them we would make it if we keep going down straight. I knew the town, although not the jungle. The forest turned thicker. I wondered why the forest seemed endless whereas it was not so when I look at the Peak from my house in the town. The Peak looks so near. We were lost between the Peak and the town. Worse, the light was becoming elusive. None had a torch. It was not an organised trekking. We were supposed to be in the town by 5 pm. Another one hour of light was left. For half an hour, we tried to follow a dried stream (it was winter) which, we thought, had a chance of leading us to a bigger stream flowing to the town. But, the descent along the stream became impossible with huge rocks coming on our way. We did not have any idea how far we were from the place we started. Once I thought of calling someone to request for a airlift by the air force. But the mobile had no network. Passing night without any extra clothes in the winter was impossible. Everyone was panicky. We just came there on an afternoon trip and supposed to be home by evening. Now we were lost in the forest just 2-3 km away from last human habitation. There was threat of wild animals. With the dark there were all kinds of sounds made by insects and birds. We had no food too. Those who did not want to take the risk of exploring a new way had all reasons to scold the rest of us. None dared give a smile. I knew there was no use of climbing down anymore. The hills were not so straight as it seemed from house down. I proposed to ascend the hill again. Rest agreed. They had no choice. The climb was painful. It was steep. At places, there was no way ahead. We had to literally tear apart the bushes to pass through. But, the result was wonderful. We made it, within 20 minutes, to the same place where we began to “explore”. The town was visible again. It was almost dark. Some lights in the town were visible. For nearly three hours, we were in a different world which was not even a kilometre away from the Peak! There was no energy left to trek. A taxi brought us home in 20 minutes. We got what we wanted…THRILLLLL.